Labour delegates to plug Sky News

Rupert Murdoch's Sky News has secured a deal with Labour to advertise on the neck-straps of security passes worn by delegates and visitors at next week's party conference in Manchester.

The move provoked hostility in the media and the union movement. A senior BBC source said: "They are living in a parallel universe if they think [BBC] journalists - or their equivalent at ITV come to that - are going to walk around advertising Sky News."

Paul Maloney, of the GMB union, said: "A lot of trade unionists would cheerfully strangle Murdoch with one of his own lanyards."